Of all the ecommerce trends, online nurseries have to be one of the most unlikely. In an industry known for its face-to-face custom, there has been a slower than normal shift to the digital era.
Yet there is solid demand for plants purchased with the click of a button, says James Roemermann, general manager of Australian Plants Online.
The new normal
"I think the younger people are doing more and more online shopping so it's going to become the norm eventually," he says.
"In saying that, we do have a lot of older customers as well who order online and they're more particular, they're after a particular species of plant so we get lots of requests for a specific genus and species of plant."
Like many online plant sellers, Australian Plants Online grew as an offshoot of a wholesale nursery – the Cedar Hill Corporate Group based in the Sunshine Coast.
This meant low set-up costs and most importantly, hundreds of varieties of tube stock ready to do.
The company has been trading for three years, but only become profitable in the last 12 months. Its most recent turnover was $650,000 and with a steady increase in orders as well as internet traffic, Roemermann is optimistic of that figure doubling within the next five years.
Shipping issues
But online nurseries are up against some formidable obstacles. Shipping tops the list.
The logistics of freighting a healthy green plant interstate and ensuring it arrives in the same condition are notoriously difficult. It took months of testing for Roemermann and his team.
"We spent a lot of time doing research on different types of packaging and then we tested ourselves sending plants to friends in Melbourne, telling them not to unwrap them, just to send them back," he says.
"We just make sure the plants are pretty good quality plants to start with and without giving any secrets away, it comes down to some specially developed packaging.
"There's nothing in the soil to hold the water moisture, it's just the way we pack it. It's something that we do that others in the industry haven't cottoned on to, but are trying to."
Often the people in our industry are outdoorsy, earthy sort of people and unpacking boxes and working on a computer is not what they do.
Mike Mehigan
Adding to the difficulties of shipping are state-based quarantine requirements, which means some plants need to be sprayed with chemicals before they cross borders. This can throw up time delays and extra costs retailers must either absorb or pass on to customers.
Then there's the competition – particularly the might of majors like Bunnings – faced by traditional and those online. The convenience of one-stop shopping at megastores like Bunnings has drawn consumers away from independent nurseries, according to a report into the nursery production industry by research firm IBISWorld.
Tough market conditions are also compounded by a forecasted drop in new residential developments, causing a fall in demand for landscaping supplies. It accounts for a slight dip in industry in 2016/17 revenue to $729.8 million, according to IBISWorld.
Blossoming industry
Despite these challenges there are promising signs of a blossoming industry, says Mike Mehigan, president of the Nursery and Garden Industry Australia.
"We probably haven't expanded as quickly as we should have done because we haven't got the logistics sorted out in terms of how we actually freight the product," he says.
"Often the people in our industry are outdoorsy, earthy sort of people and unpacking boxes and working on a computer is not what they do.
"We have some staff who have struggled with the technology side and working online. But I certainly think with the younger generation coming through they understand its just another aspect of the job we ask them to do."
Much like online clothing retailers once had to convince customers they could provide the same, if not better, service than bricks and mortar stores, nurseries have a lot to prove.
"There's still a huge desire from the buying public to actually see the product and know what they're going to be planting in their garden," Mehigan says.
"A plant could be very different, it could be a little puny thing in a pot or it could be big and beautiful with flowers."
But it's not a bridge too far for green thumbs who have been ordering through catalogues for decades, says John Allman, manager of directory site Nurseries Online.
"Twenty years ago nurseries didn't even have websites and it was just catalogues, order forms and posting cheques," he says.
"What's difficult is getting businesses to build websites. A lot of nurseries just have a Facebook page and they think that's online."